Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1887-05-07

lin I'm A4Ns
WAR IN THE WAR DEPARTMENT.
Some Bungling Work in Military
Headquarters.
Special Correspondence Of the INTER -ocEAs.l
WASHINGTON, May 2.-The condition
of affairs in the war department is ex-
citing a great deal of comment. The
surgeon general of the army is a man
with a grievance. He is surgeon gen.
eral in name only. 1t was the desire Of
the secretary Of wal and Of the general
of the army that DR.. Baxter be made
surgeon general last fall when a vacancy
occurred. DR.. Baxter was the ranking
officer in that branch of the army, and
deserved the promotion. He is chief
medical purveyor and has been on duty
at the Office Of the surgeon general for
many years. Often and often he has
been acting surgeon general. The office
has long since been earned by him. He
was a gallant officer in the war for the
Union and has been in the army ever
since. The secretary of war saw what
was right and desired that DR.. Baxter be
appointed surgeon general. For some
reason inscrutible except to a Divine
Providence, Grover Cleveland selected
a mar of whom nobody has ever heard
and appointed him. Cleveland has a
habit Of doing those things, and God
only knows why he does them. But
when he selected his man the secretary
of war had to swallow him. Ordinarily,
the secretary should be permitted to &c.
lect his own aides. Grover practically
oyerrides all precedents. He insults his
cabinet ministers or pats them on the
head, just as the humor suits him.
Well, the new surgeon general took
his place and commenced to sign such
official mail as DR.. Huntington brought
to him. Huntington was inimical to
Baxter, because he thought that he
should have been selected over Baxter's
head. To cut a long story short, Baxter
being friendly TO the secretary of war
and desirious Of helping the administra-
ton, called his attention to several
things whereby thousands of dollars
were being squandered. The secretary
called for an explanation from the sur
geon general. That official, being moth.
ing but a mere figure head and ignorant
of the business, sent a reply that was
insubordlnate and misleading. He act
ed under the advice of Huntington.
The secretary then sent for the surgeon
general and told him that Huntington
must 60, and asked him to name a maj
for the place. The surgeon general
being unable to do so, the secretary Of
war named a man and appointed him,
ordering Huntington away. The latter,
seeing all power slipping from his grasp.
melted the ancient and decreplt sur.
geon general to rebel against the secre.
tary of war, inducing him to believe
that re had been badly treated The
old surgeon general went to the presi
dent and complained that the secretary
of wal had sent HIM an obnoxious assis
tant and removed his favorite. The
president spoke to the secretary Of wal
about it and asked him why he did so
Mr.. Endico,t replied: 81 did 1t mainl.
for the good Of the service, but also tc
be consistent. You gave me an obnox
ious surgeon general, and his appoint
ment was an insult to me and the whole
army. l have given him an assistant
who is obnoxious to him. If the secre
tary Of war can suffer co"tumely anG
insult from his chief the petty surgeon
general can swallow what medicine thu
secretary Of war gives him. What il
sauce for the goose is sauce for the gan
der" and there is a GOODNESS betwec.
Grover and the secretary Of war.
Meantime, DR.. Baxter, the chief med
ical purveyor of the army, attends t
the routine duties of his office ant
grows more popular every day. He j
an able man, a genial gentleman, an,
an accomplished physician. He wa
appointed surgeon general on the frs
day of July by order of President Gar
field. The appointment was made GU
and taken to the white house for tn
presidents signature. But in the mean
time, Guiteau, the assassin, cut shor
the useful career of Garfield and til
commission was never signed. Sine
then two surgeons general have bee
appointed over the head of Baxter. H
is young enough to. live long enough t
see them all buried, both officially an
physically. His disposition of perpet
ual good nature enables him to NEE
disappointment with a smile. and t
ward off all wrinkles Of care and worry
In a recent letter I spoke in kindl
terms of Gen. Belknap, e~x-secretary {
war. Gen. Tyner, of Fargo, sent tn
ex-secretary a copy of it and wrote hir
- ,,;oo 1okkor u,h;oh T bovo .on,